Turk Telekom outlasts Brescia, 77-69, to advance!

Turk Telekom Ankara made good on its home-court advantage by turning back Germani Brescia for a 77-69 victory in the last game of the 7DAYS EuroCup Eighthfinals on Thursday. Turk Telekom will host ratiopharm Ulm next week in the quarterfinals, the furthest that the team from the Turkish capital has made it in its seven EuroCup seasons to date. Turk Telekom lifted its overall record for the season to 14-5. Brescia was eliminated in its first-ever EuroCup postseason game and finished the season with a 9-10 record.
The last of 9 ties and 19 lead changes came on a put-back by Tyrique Jones on the third-quarter buzzer, then Turk Telekom scored the first 8 points of the fourth to take control the rest of the way. Axel Boutielle led the winners with 21 points, while Jones had 14 without a miss and Nathan Sestina 10. Erkan Yilmaz added 8 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocks. C.J. Massinburg paced Brescia with 20 points, while Kenny Gabriel and John Petrucelli had 10 each.
Game Videos
Berk Demir for the hosts and Gabriel for Brescia traded triples to open the scoring, then repeated themselves for a 6-6 tie. Gabriel put Brescia ahead with free throws and a dunk at 7-12, but Sestina slammed and blasted a triple to put Turk Telekom up 14-12. Massinburg flipped the scoreboard from the arc before Bouteille beat the buzzer for a 17-15 Turk Telekom lead after 10 minutes. Massinburg buried 2 more triples around one from Bouteille for a 20-21 Brescia advantage early in the second quarter. Nicola Akele made it 20-25 for Brescia from deep before Bouteille scored 3 the hard way and Yilmaz converted a fastbreak at 25-25. Jones broke pair of ties with inside baskets, but David Cournooh and Christian Burns matched him at 29-29. Cournooh and Amadeo Della Valle joined Brescia's three-point parade for a new high lead, 38-31, but Yilmaz and Tony Taylor filled a 5-0 closing run for Turk Telekom to draw within 36-38 at halftime.
Duelling dunks by Tai Odiase and Jones gave way to Bouteille's triple to flip Turk Telekom in front, 41-40, right after the break. Jerian Grant added a layup for the hosts , but Petrucelli beat the shot clock with a one-legged triple to tie 43-43. Demir reappeared from the arc but Massinburg and Mike Cobbins dunked for Brescia to take back a 46-47 edge. Back and forth they went until Bouteille's next triple made it 51-49. Massinburg stopped and popped to tie again but a three-point play by Taylor and a free throw by Yilmaz took Turk Telekom ahead 57-53. Burns and Massinburg, with a three-point play, forced the seventh lead change of the quarter, at 57-58 for Brescia, but Jones put back a miss on the buzzer for the eighth one and a 59-58 Turk Telekom advantage after 30 minutes.
Taylor and Yilmaz fed Jones for a pair of baskets to raise the Turk Telekom lead to 64-58 early in the fourth. When Yilmaz found Sestina for a triple, the hosts had the game's high lead, 67-58. Petrucelli had 5 points to cut the difference to 71-65 with 5 minutes left. Bouteille scored 90 seconds later on a floater at 73-65. There it stood until Massinburg's fastbreak layup at 73-69 with 41 seconds left. Grant hit free throws next to seal the deal and send Turk Telekom forward to the quarterfinals.